Pioneers in patient care: consultants leading change
North East
Innovation: A direct access, one-stop dental extraction clinic for children
Dr Ken Ruiz
Rotherham General Hospital
Job title: Consultant anaesthetist
Specialty: Anaesthesia
High Street dental services no longer provide general anaesthesia and in a bid to make sure children in Rotherham still have access to such services, consultant anaesthetist, Ken Ruiz helped introduce and develop a direct access, general anaesthetic extraction clinic at Rotherham General Hospital.
Dr Ruiz says: “We have come up with a direct access system and a one-stop clinic for children who need a dental extraction under general anaesthetic. The dentist can ring the clinic directly and book a time and date on an operating list whilst the patient is still in the dental surgery. The child and parents, are then given all the relevant information about the procedure, using protocols agreed between the hospital and dental surgeries.
“When the patient attends the clinic they receive both referral and treatment in one visit and the typical length of visit from arrival to going home is 30 minutes.
“The introduction of the service means we no longer have a waiting list and we can see around 30 patients per day – our record. One dentist called us at 10am on a Tuesday with an urgent referral, the patient was treated by 12.30pm on the same day. This huge increase in the number of patients we see means we make incredibly efficient use of resources.”
“The service has proved a success,” Dr Ruiz says. “We have had no complaints in the seven years the surgery has been running, and we have had numerous letters of thanks. An audit of patient/parent satisfaction has shown that the service is very well regarded.”
The Department of Health provides funding, however an increase in resources is needed to develop and expand the service. Dr Ruiz says: “A lack of funding limits the innovations that we can bring on line.”